Healthy London Partnership, an initiative that aims to make the English capital the world’s healthiest city, has created a new film that highlights how valuable social prescribing can be in building and supporting community resilience – by linking people to support and advice services around housing, finance, employment, and social welfare.
Watch video below
To make the video, the partnership, which works with the NHS, Public Health England and the Mayor of London amongst other key organisations, spoke to social prescribing champions from across London to share their experiences.
Among them were link workers, managers and commissioners, clinical directors and GPs plus individuals from Primary Care Networks, voluntary organisations, the local authority and Public Health.
Susan Paul, a Primary Care Network Director in Stratford told the film’s makers: “We are going to be able to make a huge difference at a level that we’ve never been able to do before. It’s not just about popping pills, it’s not just about getting an appointment, it’s about empowering our patients to make a difference in their own lives – that’s priceless.”
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Khadijah Arije, a social prescribing link worker from Hounslow in West London, agreed, saying: “People want to feel that they matter, people want to take control and charge of of their well-being. Social prescribing, I think, is an exciting opportunity for us to think about health differently and to act on our health differently.”
For more information on the Healthy London Partnership, visit www.healthylondon.org
WHAT IS SOCIAL PRESCRIBING DAY?
By Dr Bogdan Chiva-Giurca
Social Prescribing Day aims to ensure social prescribing continues to grow as a grassroots movement. During the pandemic, communities have come together to support those most in need, to enable them to stay active and connected during the pandemic.
One might argue that social prescribing is needed now more than ever, given the devastating effect of the pandemic, not only on our physical health, but also on our mental health, regardless of our age and demographic.
This year’s international #SocialPrescribingDay will aim to celebrate the thousands of projects set up to maintain the health of our communities during the Covid 19 pandemic.
Whether you’ve set up a project or whether you know someone who’s been benefiting greatly from an online social prescribing initiative during the pandemic, join us on the 18th of March 2021 on social media to share our stories and let the world know how social prescribing has kept us connected, healthy, and engaged during a global crisis.
How can you support the day? There will be a series of events and plans advertised shortly, but in the meantime, you can use the following banners and logos via social media and email signature to spread the word.
